Connector with glass substrate



Nov. 22, 1966 H. E. RUEHLEMANN 3,287,686-

CONNECTOR WITH GLASS SUBSTRATE Filed Aug. 8, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR HL'RBERT 1 RUE'HLEMAN/V ATTORNEYS.

Nov. 22, 1966 H. E. RUEHLEMANN 3,

CONNECTOR WITH GLASS SUBSTRATE Filed Aug, 19 :5 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N. I233 LUZ i 220 BY 3 WWW ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent ()flice 3,287,686 Patented Nov. 22, 1966 3,287,686CONNECTOR WITH GLASS SUBSTRATE Herbert E. Ruehlemann, Huntingdon Valley,Pa., assignor to Elco Corporation, Willow Grove, Pa., a corporation Thisinvention relates to a connector with glass substrate and is intended toprovide a new and heretofore unknown device of this general class.

It is known to secure contacts to a printed circuit board by drilling orpunching holes in the board, inserting the legs of the contact in theholes and then staking the contacts to the rear surface of the board.The foregoing assembly is exemplified by Fox Patent No. 2,994,056.

It is possible to achieve the foregoing structure because the printedcircuit board is constructed of materials which may be drilled orpunched. However, where the material involved is glass or ceramics, itis not feasible to drill or punch holes in the same and thereforeprinted circuit joining techniques are not readily applicable thereto.

Of particular interest in this connection is the so-called glasssubstrate which is now in wide use. Glass substrates may receiveconductive material by means of vacuum deposit methods such thatconductive layers are deposited in films of extremely small thickness toform resistors, diodes, capacitors, conductors, etc. In this mannerultra-miniaturization is achieved.

However, with the rise of the glass subtsrate it has become desirable toconnect a considerable number of glass substrates to another element,such as a common board which is often designated as a mother board. Themother board is usually a multilayer printed circuit board or a boardpermitting back-panel wiring by wire-wrapping techniques.

It is therefore a prime object of the present invention to provide aconstruction whereby a plurality of glass substrates will be surely andeconomically united electrically to a mother board.

Yet another object of the present invention is to avoid drilling andpunching steps which are impractical upon glass and yet achieveelectrical and mechanical connection between a glass substrate and acontact projecting therefrom.

Still another object of the present invention is to render a glasssubstrate substantially as versatile as a printed circuit board insofaras connection techniques are concerned.

The foregoing as well as other objects of the invention are achieved byproviding a contact which is essentially two-headed and which includes asubstrate head and a contact head joined by a body section. The contacthead is preferably of a bifurcated construction and may be disposed in aplane at a 28 angle with respect to the substrate head. Also, thecontact head may be vertically spaced with respect to the substratehead. Alternatively, the axis of the substrate head may be alinedperpendicularly with respect to the axis of the contact head.

Another feature of the invention resides in the construction of thesubstrate head which basically includes a pair of widely spaced parallelfingers defining between them a gap for reception of the glasssubstrate. The fingers are provided on their inner surfaces withinwardly projecting bumps that actually make electrical and mechanicalcontacts with an inserted glass substrate. Further connection may bemade by soldering and a final connection can be made using epoxytechniques.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this inventionwill be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood byreference to the following detailed description when considered inconnection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view with portions in section of an assemblyincluding the contact of the present invention having a glass substratesecured in its substrate head and having a mother board contact matingwith its Contact head, the mother board contact being secured to amother board and projecting through an insulator associated therewith;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the contact utilized in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but employing a right angle contactof the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the right angle contact of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the presentinvention whereby the axis of the contact head is vertically spaced withrespect to the axis of the substrate head;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view showing contacts along the lines ofFIG. 6, each secured to a glass substrate and wherein the axis of eachcontact head is slightly depressed or raised in alternating relationshipwith respect to the axis of the substrate heads which are all at thesame level, there being shown two vertically aligned glass substrates;and

FIG. 8 is a front elevational view taken along the lines 8-8 of FIG. 7.

Referring now to the various figures of the drawing wherein likereference numerals refer to like parts there is shown in FIG. 2 acontact 10 constituting a first embodiment of the present invention. Thecontact 10 is twoheaded and basically includes a substrate head 12, anda contact head 14 disposed in a place at a 28 angle with respect to eachother and joined by a body section 16.

The contact head 14 is bifurcated and is of a construction substantiallythe same as that disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,828,474. Theentire contact 10 is generally fiat and is constructed of a spring-hardPhosphor bronze, copper or other suitable electrically conductivematerial having the necessary balance of resiliency and strengthrequired herein.

The contact head 14 is bifurcated by virtue of a slot 18 along thelongitudinal center thereof to provide a pair of contact legs 20 and 22which are spaced from each other by virtue of the slot 18. The outeredges of the Contact legs 20 and 22 are generally parallel to each otherwith the front edges thereof then tapering backwardly towards each otheruntil meeting the slot 18.

The inner edges 26 of the contact head 14 are chamfered to presentsubstantially flat contact surfaces. In mating position, a contact witha contact head similarily constructed will mate perpendicularly withrespect to the contact head 14 as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3 and as described in United States Patents No. 2,828,474 and No. 2,994,056. Whenthis is done the chamfered surfaces of the contact heads are inengagement with each other to provide a large area of electricalcontact. The distance between the inner edges of the contact legs 20 and22 is slightly less than the thickness of the contact so that when acomplementary contact is engaged in slot 18 the contact legs 20 and 22are slightly forced apart to engage the mating contact under tension.Where desired such tension may be enhanced by the provision of anenlarged opening (not shown) at the rear end of the slot 18.

As the two cooperating contacts of bifurcated construction are broughtinto mating relationship the respective contact legs 20 and 22 arespread apart slightly to permit a smooth sliding action between therespectivepairs of contact legs while still providing adequate tensionto in sure good electrical contact.

It is to be understood that other types of bifurcated mating sectionsmay be employed and, also, the mating sections may be male, female orother types known in the art so long as satisfactory mating can occur atthe contact head 14.

As previously stated the body section 16 bridges the substrate head 12and the contact head 14. As shown in FIG. 2 the body section 16 includesa pair of notches 28 for insertion of the contact 10 in a holding membersuch as an insulating casing.

The substrate head 12 generally includes a pair of widely spacedparallel fingers 30, defining between them gap 32 for reception of aglass substrate. The outer edges of the fingers 30 are generally flatand terminate rearwardly at notches 28. The inner edges 34 of thefingers 30 are also generally flat and terminate rearwardly at the rearedge 36.

As the inner edges 34 move towards the front of the board head 12 theymove sharply toward each other in bumps 38 to define a narrow gap 40between them. The

inner edges 34 then taper outwardly away from each other into squaredoff sections which eventually meet the outer edges of the board head 12.The narrowness of the gap 40 is important as the insertion of a glasssubstrate 42 therein causes the fingers 30 to be somewhat spread andthis gives rise to a pressure contact between the fingers 30 throughbumps 38 upon the conductive members 44 of the glass substrate 42.

As previously noted the contact head 14 mates with a similar contacthead of a mother board contact 46 which has been electrically andmechanically secured to a mother board 48 having conductive membersdeposited thereon (not shown). The mother board contact 46 includes amating head 50 which is constructed along the lines of contact head 14.The mother board contact 46 also includes a tail section 52 whichprojects beyond the mother board. As shown in FIG. 1 a considerableportion of the mother board contact 46 is located in an insulator 54which is associated with the mother board.

The assembly of FIG. 1 can be repeated many times with a plurality ofmother board contacts 46 projecting outwardly from the mother board 48so that contact may be made between the mother board and many glasssubstrates similar to that of substrate 42 as shown in FIG. 1. In thisconnection the insulator 54 may be considerably elongated in alongitudinal direction as generally indicated in FIG. 3 which alsoreveals the 28 relationship between the place of the contact head 14 andplane substrate head 12.

FIGS. 4 and show a right angle contact 110 constituting anotherembodiment of the present invention wherein reference characters similarto embodiment be employed wherever possible with the addition of thenumber 1 in the hundred column in order to distinguish contact 110 fromcontact 10. Accordingly the contact of FIG. 5 includes a substrate head112, a contact head 114 in the same plane as the substrate head 112 withthe heads 112 and 114 being joined by a body section 116. As noted inFIG. 5 the rear section of the substrate head 112 is considerablyenlarged in order to provide for the essential right angle departure ofthe contact head 114 so that the axis of the substrate head liesperpendicularly to the axis of the contact head. Aside from theforegoing the contact of the FIG. 5 contains many features in commonwith the contact of FIG. 2. The contact head 114 has a slot 118 definingcontact legs 120 and 122. The substrate head 112 includes widely spacedfingers 130 defining a gap 132 and further possessing bumps 138 whichdefine a narrow gap 140.

The use of the contact in FIG. 5 is shown in FIG. 4, and this use isessentially the same as that shown in FIG. 1 with the accompanyingmodified results provided by virtue of the right angle nature of thecontact 110 such that the glass substrate 42 is disposed in a parallelrelationship with the mother board 48.

Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 6 to 8with contact 210 being shown separately in FIG. 6. The contact 210basically includes a substrate head 212, a contact head 214 with a bodysection 216 joining the heads 212 and 214. The construction of thecontact 210 is essentially the same as that of contact 14 but with thesubstrate head and contact head lying in the same plane. Thus, thecontact 210 includes an elongated slot 218 defining spaced legs 220 and222 which are constructed in accordance with the description of FIG. 2.As further shown in FIG. 6

the body section 216 is somewhat elongated in order that the glasssubstrate 244 may be received at a differ ent level from that of themother board contact which mates with the contact head 214. This can beappreciated from a study of FIG. 7. As further shown in FIGS. 7 and 8the offsetting in a vertical direction of the substrate head 212 fromthe contact head 214 permits the provision of a set of verticallyalternating contacts, one above the axis of the substrate head 212 andone below the axis of the substrate head 212. This is done in order toachieve mating with two rows of contacts secured to the mother board. Ina two row connector assembly as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 theaforesaid alternating pattern is quite effective with the upper contactsbeing labeled A and the lower contacts being labeled B.

As further noted in FIG. 6 the upper edge of contact leg 220 terminatesin a step 221 which goes on to define the upper edge of a finger 230 ofthe substrate contact 212. The outer edge of the lower contact leg 222terminates in a deep step 223 which merges into an inclined edge 225that eventually becomes the outer edge of the lower finger 230 of thesubstrate head 212. Where contact head 214 is below substrate head 212the positions of the steps 221 and 225 are reversed.

Another feature added to the contact of FIG. 6 is that a wider gap 232than that of the contact of FIG. 2 is provided between the fingers 230.Furthermore this gap is in part defined by a pair of rear enlargedgenerally circular openings 233 in order to enhance the hinge likeaction of the fingers 230 when they are spread during insertion of aglass substrate by virtue of the spreading action between the glasssubstrate and the bumps 238. As shown in FIG. 6, and as also shown inFIGS. 2 and 4 a pair of outwardly inclined edges 241 are provided inorder to facilitate the entry of the glass substrate.

Yet another advantage of the construction of the present invention isthat contact may be made with both sides of the glass substrate whereboth sides contain deposited circuitry. Even if the substrate has onlythe circuitry deposited on one side it is possible to produce aback-to-back positioning of two such glass substrates and therebyachieve contact with the printed members deposited on the outer surfacesof each of the glass substrates assembled in this manner.

Where desired permanent connection between the bumps 38, 138 or 238 andthe conductive member of the glass substrate may be achieved throughsoldering and a final connection can be made using epoxy techniques.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims, the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed as the invention is:

1. In combination, a glass substrate and a contact secured thereto, saidcontact comprising a contact head and a substrate head integrally joinedtogether by a body section, the contact head being bifurcated by virtueof a narrow slot, the substrate head being comprised of a pair of widelyspaced parallel fingers defining between them a gap for reception of theglass substrate, said fingers being provided on their inner surfaceswith at least one inwardly projecting bump to contact a glass substrateupon insertion thereof, said contact head being formed to mate with acontact having a similar contact head.

2. The invention of claim 1 including a pair of enlarged rear circularopenings communicating with said gap.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein the plane of said contact head isdisposed at an acute angle with respect to the plane of said substratehead.

4. The invention of claim 1 wherein the longitudinal axis of saidcontact head is vertically spaced with respect to that of said substratehead.

5. The invention of claim 1 wherein the major axis of said contact headlies perpendicularly with respect to the major axis of said substratehead.

6. In combination, a plurality of glass substrates each having aplurality of contacts secured thereto, each of said contacts comprisinga contact head and a substrate head integrally joined together by -abody section, the longitudinal axis of said contact head beingvertically spaced with respect to that of said substrate head, saidsubstrate head being comprised of a pair of widely spaced parallelfingers defining between them a gap for reception of one of saidpluralities of glass substrates, said fingers being provided on theirinner surfaces with at least one inwardly projecting bump to contact aglass substrate upon insertion thereof, said contact head being adaptedto be mated with a contact having a similar contact head, said contactsbeing spaced along said glass substrates, said contacts being mounted onsaid substrate so that the contact heads of adjacent contacts areoppositely spaced from said glass substrate.

7. A contact for use with a glass substrate comprising a contact headand a substrate head integrally joined together by a body section, thecontact head being bifurcated by virtue of a narrow slot, the substratehead being comprised of a pair of widely spaced parallel fingersdefining between them a gap for reception of the glass substrate, saidcontact including a pair of enlarged rear circular openingscommunicating with said gap, said fingers being provided on their innersurfaces with at least one inwardly projecting bump to contact a glasssubstrate upon insertion thereof, said contact head being formed to matewith a contact having a similar contact head.

8. A contact for use with a glass substrate ing a contact head and asubstrate head integrally joined together by a body section, the contacthead being bicomprisfurcated by virtue of a narrow slot, the substratehead being comprised of a pair of widely spaced parallel fingersdefining between them a gap for reception of the glass substrate, saidfingers being provided on their inner surfaces with at least oneinwardly projecting bump to contact a glass substrate upon insertionthereof, said contact head being formed to mate with a contact having asimilar contact head, the plane of said contact head being disposed atan acute angle with respect to the plane of said substrate head.

9. A contact for use with a glass substrate comprising a contact headand a substrate head integrally joined together by a body section, thecontact head being bifurcated by virtue of a narrow slot, the substratehead being comprised of a pair of widely spaced parallel fingersdefining between them a gap for reception of the glass substrate, saidfingers being provided on their inner surfaces with at least oneinwardly projecting bump to contact a glass substrate upon insertionthereof, said contact head being formed to mate with a contact having asimilar contact head, the longitudinal axis of said contact head beingvertically spaced with respect to that of said substrate head.

10. A contact for use with a glass substrate comprising a contact headand a substrate head integrally joined together by a body section, thecontact head being bifurcated by virtue of a narrow slot, the substratehead being comprised of a pair of widely spaced parallel fingersdefining between them a gap for reception of the glass substrate, saidfingers being provided on their inner surfaces with at least oneinwardly projecting bump to contact a glass substrate upon insertionthereof, said contact head being formed to mate with a contact having asimilar contact head, the major axis of said contact head lyingperpendicularly with respect to the major axis of said substrate head.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,248,718 7/1941Owen 33961 2,443,706 6/ 1948 Jansen 339192 2,701,346 2/ 1955 Powell33917 2,828,474 3/1958 Fox 339-47 X 2,832,942 4/1958 French 33917 X2,869,107 1/1959 Engel 339220 3,022,481 2/ 1962 Stepoway 339 3,061,91111/1962 Baker 29155.5 3,149,894 9/1964 Fox 339-17 EDWARD C. ALLEN,Primary Examiner.

ALFRED S. TRASK, Examiner.

6. IN COMBINATION, A PLURALITY OF GLASS SUBSTRATES EACH HAVING APLURALITY OF CONTACTS SECURED THERETO, EACH OF SAID CONTACTS COMPRISINGA CONTACT HEAD AND A SUBSTRATE HEAD INTEGRALLY JOINED TOGETHER BY A BODYSECTION, THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID CONTACT HEAD BEING VERTICALLYSPACED WITH RESPECT TO THAT OF SAID SUBSTRATE HEAD, SAID SUBSTRATE HEADBEING COMPRISED OF A PAIR OF WIDELY SPACED PARALLEL FINGERS DEFININGBETWEEN THEM A GAP FOR RECEPTION OF ONE OF SAID PLURALITIES OF GLASSSUBSTRATES, SAID FINGERS BEING PROVIDED ON THEIR INNER SURFACES WITH AT